Weird problems with my Laptop

[everythingsuckslol]

Hi everyone, I have a Dell laptop and I'm using Ubuntu, however I have noticed that sometimes when I leave the computer unattended for a long period of time (more than 1 hour) then when I come back the screen stays black, and when I move mouse nothing happens (this does not happen if i leave for just 15 minutes for example). Sometimes when I sleep and turn off the computer I also noticed some sort of bleep sound which happens once. Does anyone know why it's like that and how to fix it ? Thanks a lot. 

[Mockingbird]

On 06/11/2023 at 11:56, everythingsuckslol said:

Hi everyone, I have a Dell laptop and I'm using Ubuntu, however I have noticed that sometimes when I leave the computer unattended for a long period of time (more than 1 hour) then when I come back the screen stays black, and when I move mouse nothing happens (this does not happen if i leave for just 15 minutes for example). Sometimes when I sleep and turn off the computer I also noticed some sort of bleep sound which happens once. Does anyone know why it's like that and how to fix it ? Thanks a lot. 

The laptop probably went into sleep mode.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

what model of Dell is this? Is the CPU Intel or AMD? And does it have dedicated graphics by chance?

If there happens to be an Nvidia GPU in there then I could see that causing problems when your laptop tries to change power states, because Nvidia drivers still suck in Linux, and their "open-source" initiatives have been garbage

[everythingsuckslol]

On 06/11/2023 at 21:15, Brandon H said:

what model of Dell is this? Is the CPU Intel or AMD? And does it have dedicated graphics by chance?

If there happens to be an Nvidia GPU in there then I could see that causing problems when your laptop tries to change power states, because Nvidia drivers still suck in Linux, and their "open-source" initiatives have been garbage

I just checked, it seems to be Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8350U CPU. No it doesn't have dedicated graphics, no Nvidia GPU. 

 

On 06/11/2023 at 21:07, Mockingbird said:

The laptop probably went into sleep mode.

But if it went into sleep mode, shouldn't it awake when i hover my mouse ? Here it doesn't and the screen just remains blank. 

 

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

What version of Windows will help, too. 

There are options to disable sleep mode, unless you personally turn it off.

[everythingsuckslol]

On 06/11/2023 at 22:15, Mindovermaster said:

What version of Windows will help, too. 

There are options to disable sleep mode, unless you personally turn it off.

Hi, I'm using Ubuntu 22.04. I did not notice any of this on Windows, although on my last laptop I have noticed that it does some sort of strange update at around 1.30pm each day for some reason (that laptop had since broken and i bought another one which i'm using right now). 

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

Missed that.. read this:

https://linuxgenie.net/how-to-cha

[Nick H. Supervisor]

On 06/11/2023 at 19:56, everythingsuckslol said:

Hi everyone, I have a Dell laptop and I'm using Ubuntu, however I have noticed that sometimes when I leave the computer unattended for a long period of time (more than 1 hour) then when I come back the screen stays black, and when I move mouse nothing happens (this does not happen if i leave for just 15 minutes for example). Sometimes when I sleep and turn off the computer I also noticed some sort of bleep sound which happens once. Does anyone know why it's like that and how to fix it ? Thanks a lot. 

<Moved to Linux discussion>

Check your power management settings. I seem to remember seeing a similar issue there with my machine.

Also, moving from LTS to the latest (23.10) resolved a lot of issues that I was having. Although I did a fresh install and went to Kubuntu. The fresh install might have resolved most of my issues.

Is there a reason that you want to stick with LTS?

If you want to stick with LTS and you don't want to do a fresh install, is there anything you've installed recently that could account for the problem? Part of the reason for me doing a fresh install was the realisation that I had messed around too much and I was creating too many added issues. The joy of Linux is that you can customise it to your preference, but in doing so you can make it unstable if you don't know what you're doing (which isn't a sleight against you, it's just how things are with Linux).

[everythingsuckslol]

On 06/11/2023 at 23:01, Nick H. said:

<Moved to Linux discussion>

Check your power management settings. I seem to remember seeing a similar issue there with my machine.

Also, moving from LTS to the latest (23.10) resolved a lot of issues that I was having. Although I did a fresh install and went to Kubuntu. The fresh install might have resolved most of my issues.

Is there a reason that you want to stick with LTS?

If you want to stick with LTS and you don't want to do a fresh install, is there anything you've installed recently that could account for the problem? Part of the reason for me doing a fresh install was the realisation that I had messed around too much and I was creating too many added issues. The joy of Linux is that you can customise it to your preference, but in doing so you can make it unstable if you don't know what you're doing (which isn't a sleight against you, it's just how things are with Linux).

I just opened Settings, disable the "Automatic suspend" (Pause the computer after a period of inactivity) box, but i'm not sure if it will make a difference. It sounds like locking the screen after not using it for a while so i don't know for sure. I thought LTS is the stable version and the latest versions are like nightly builds or something like that ? Should I really upgrade ? I'm not sure if the error is even because of LTS to begin with. Upgrading seems like a chore.

[ThaCrip]

On 07/11/2023 at 17:36, everythingsuckslol said:

I thought LTS is the stable version and the latest versions are like nightly builds or something like that ?

 

LTS = Long Term Support. on Ubuntu based OS's that generally means about 5 years of support where as the 23.10 etc I think are supported for a much shorter period of time (maybe 9 months or so(?)).

generally I prefer LTS because of the length of support as roughly 9 months of support is just not that much and while LTS might be a bit behind the latest-and-greatest, I feel the trade off is generally worth it for a reliable system one can use for years without having to upgrade.

p.s. I use Mint 21.x series which is based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS I think was released roughly April 2022, Mint 21.x series, which is based on that, comes about mid-2022 and support for it ends April 2027. so pretty much 5 years (maybe a little less on Mint). based on this pattern that basically means Ubuntu 24.04 LTS will be April 2024 and supported until April 2029 and so on.

Edited November 7, 2023 by ThaCrip

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

On 07/11/2023 at 16:36, everythingsuckslol said:

I just opened Settings, disable the "Automatic suspend" (Pause the computer after a period of inactivity) box, but i'm not sure if it will make a difference. It sounds like locking the screen after not using it for a while so i don't know for sure. I thought LTS is the stable version and the latest versions are like nightly builds or something like that ? Should I really upgrade ? I'm not sure if the error is even because of LTS to begin with. Upgrading seems like a chore.

There are 2 different areas. It's in Display Settings and in Power Management..